Libertarian groups urge McConnell to change course on surveillance
TechFreedom, the R Street Institute and a coalition of other limited-government groups are today asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to drop his clean reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act and his effort to fast-track it through the chamber. In a letter to McConnell and Minority Leader Harry Reid, the groups outline a series of reforms they want when Congress addresses surveillance laws set to expire at the end of next month. “[Americans] have grown increasingly skeptical about whether the government’s intrusive surveillance programs serve the public interest — and rightly so,” they write. “The Senate has a duty to carefully evaluate existing programs before voting on whether to simply reauthorize them without reforms.”
The groups say the NSA’s mass surveillance practices are unconstitutional, unnecessary and costly. They also say it “undermines consumer confidence in U.S. Internet companies” and gives foreign competitors an advantage abroad. More than a dozen groups have signed on to the letter, including the National Taxpayers Union and FreedomWorks. The letter: http://bit.ly/1E9xn7o
